The Morning Dispatch: Congress Closes In On Pandemic Relief Deal

Plus: How Democrats will deal with a slim majority in the House.

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Happy Thursday! And an extra happy Thursday to the pharmacists around the country who noticed they could squeeze extra doses of vaccine out of the Pfizer vials, potentially increasing our national supply by up to 40 percent!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Congressional leaders on Wednesday inched closer to finalizing a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief package that will likely include enhanced unemployment insurance and direct payments to Americans, but exclude more contentious provisions: liability protections for employers sought by Republicans and increased funding for state and local governments sought by Democrats. 

  • Ten state attorneys general—led by Ken Paxton in Texas—sued Google on Wednesday, alleging the company conspired with Facebook to rig an illegal digital advertising monopoly. “We will strongly defend ourselves from his baseless claims in court,” a Google spokesperson said in response.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Scarlette Tarte

    That bit about the negro leagues...that is great news. Many of them are long dead, but their records still will stand. Pretty sure Satchel Paige was right up there as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He had several varieties of pitches, including his famous "hesitation pitch" which was finally made into an illegal pitch.

    In his heyday, he used to have his outfielders come in and sit down behind him, then proceed to strike out entire sides. Played thru his fifties. Remarkable man.

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    DougAz

    Operation Warp Speed is a fail. Sorry but Republicans really administer government horribly. Millions of Pfizer doses.... waiting for shipment... and orders. Another GOP in charge CF.

    Can we move the inauguration up to say... Christmas???

    States report confusion as government reduces vaccine shipments, while Pfizer says it has ‘millions’ of unclaimed doses
    By Isaac Stanley-Becker, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Lena H. Sun and Josh Dawsey

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/17/pfizer-vaccine-supply-states/

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  3. Avatar photo
    Scarlette Tarte

    I breed Friesian Horses, also known as "Belgian Blacks". My market is the upper crust. So for us, I cannot say we have taken a downturn, except early on in the Pandemic when no one was getting out. Some people will purchase a horse on the strength of its pedigree alone, but rarely. Most people want to see it before they buy, note the temperament, the size etc. But as the pandemic wore on, our people returned to getting out, and visiting, although wearing a mask.

    One thing that has changed is the lives of our employees. Because my husband has a lung disease, we required them to move onto the ranch (some of them live here already) and we allowed them to bring their families, but they would not be able to travel off the ranch. I am the only one who goes to round up supplies. So it has been on the one hand, a win for them, as they are saving money not having to pay electric bills and gas and even insurance on vehicles they are not driving currently, but they have all been stuck here. Now, "stuck" is a relative term because we have over 700 acres, two lakes, a swimming pool, boats, jet ski's and four wheelers, and for the two employees that have kids, after they do their remote learning, the day is theirs to fish, hike, swim, four wheel and hunt hogs. (that is the only thing I allow to be hunted on my land) oh, and work with the horses, so it has been a kind of heaven for them. For us, it has been crowded, but not unpleasant. The hands have a bunkhouse, the foreman a small house and for the maintenance man and his family we converted a large metal building we had into a home.

    My husband, poor thing, has not left the ranch since February, except for occasional visits to the doctor. But again, this is not a hardship on him since he loves it. Our book club, mah jongg group and card playing group have not met since February and that was my real social outlet, so aside from some volunteer work I do at the local shelter, this has been my life.

    I appreciate the money given to everyone who actually needed it, and the help given to businesses, but I and my husband received both although we did not really need it, especially for the business end of it, which picked back up in early June and has been steady.

    I do think another package needs to be better targeted. I know plenty of people who are suffering. The one thing that has been most awful about the pandemic outside of the illness and death, has been the very uneven way Americans are affected. Outside of the disease itself, we are not all in this together. Some of us are thriving or doing as well as before, and some of us are really really hurting. That difference bothers me, and I try to keep the fact of it front and center in my thinking.

    Some people do not need any help. And some need lots of help. Better targeting would mean that the people that need it could actually get more.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Everybody Digs Bill Evans

    Regarding the extra doses from the Pfizer vaccine, at first this looked like great news. However, a physician friend responded by saying this is not normal, and that injectable drugs are made under incredibly close and precise conditions, with contents controlled to the smallest fractions possible. He went on to say that discovering 40% in a vial is like an airline buying a Boeing 777 with 300 seats and discovering upon delivery it has 390 seats instead.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Everybody Digs Bill Evans

      *40% more in a vial...

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  5. P Satter

    In response to the QOTD, wanted to put in a random plug here:
    I volunteer at a food bank in the suburbs. If anyone is aware of someone they have come across in their life who is struggling currently, in addition to what help you can give, help them find food banks in their community. Also help them overcome any hesitancy to use one; the people who work there are understanding, particularly now as our client numbers are up for the reason the question was asked.
    While food banks vary in what they can offer (ours offers fresh produce; some are unable to do so) they can be a financial and nutritional help to many. Some come in only occasionally; some for longer periods of time.
    They can also be a friendly connection to other social services, public or private, to help people get on their feet. Food banks connected to churches with a sign out front are for the community; you do not need to be connected to the church, and most clients are not. If free food would help the person financially who is worried or struggling, that is what they are there for.

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  6. Avatar photo
    David Chen

    I'm in the 'it can be worse' bucket. We started our manufacturing company late last year but were not yet into revenue so the business funding programs have been nothing but a dispiriting waste of time with god knows how many hours trying to apply, responding to reconsideration requests, calling, etc etc. On the other hand our maintenance expenses are low and we aren't facing the bleak prospect of certain industries like restaurants, who are getting hammered by this red-light/green-light madness in California.

    The only thing I've been successful at applying for is ironically unemployment and food stamps, unlike the 400k+ backlog with the state EDD. So between that, savings, a student loan from taking some online classes, and some parental help, I've been able to keep paying rent. I'm currently working on setting up an Etsy store in the meantime.

    So ya, it could be worse, though I have nothing but contempt towards congress for both its stupidity in drafting the original law, and its current intransigence in turning this issue into political football. This is definitely going to be a K-shaped recovery. And while I'm still hopeful I will be on the upswing, I know millions (if not more) will be on the downslope and I'm pretty sure it didn't have to be this way. Our government's utter incompetence in handling this pandemic is a big reason why I've been researching New Zealand's immigration rules.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Boomer Bob

    My wife lost her job. She found another within a few months but it was a big hit, especially because in addition to lost wages she lost her health care. Cobra @ $721/months x 3 months. Obamacare similar cost since we don’t qualify of any subsidy (i.e., over $68,000 in household income). It sucks to be between 55 and 65 when you need healthcare. “Luckily” I’m old enough to be on Medicare. Decoupling health care from employment has been #1 on my policy wish list for years, and this experience has only reinforced it as a priority for me.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Michelle O

      I am not looking forward to the Cobra costs. Mine are still being covered by my former employer at the moment.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Angie

    I am in the things are falling apart bucket...lol...most of my immediate family are in a better position due to many factors where our lives are just different. I am unemployed with no reasonable chance of that changing anytime soon...the relief package should at least help me catch up on my car and some other bigger bills I can't afford on unemployment, and be able to keep up, at least until it expires too...I have friends who are doing the same as normal, which in their case was better than me before the pandemic...

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    1. Avatar photo
      Matmos

      I'm so sorry Angie, this is so difficult.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Angie

        Thank you Matmos...yeah it is ...sigh I am trying to be positive...actually something I normally can do no matter the crises...just really hard this time, I just don't see a future where the job situation improves for me...

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      Boomer Bob

      So sorry to hear that!

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      1. Avatar photo
        Angie

        yeah, it sucks, ...my age is a big deterrent , I never realized how big...I am more than qualified to get the jobs I applied for, but, I can't even get an interview and out of about 100, I got three who were at least decent enough to reply with a civil no...sigh...I don't see this changing, I even understand why they are hesitant to hire me due to my age on several levels...but, I can't afford to retire, so I don't know what I am going to do

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  9. Avatar photo
    Dave

    The Tim Kaine/Lamar Alexander piece was awesome. I wish we had more of those moments.

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  10. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Christmas Star is visible - and will be be a once in many lifetime event. Over the next four days, you can, with family, children, experience the celestial orbits, and their relative motion to our Earth in the South-west sky right after sunset. Jupiter and Saturn will close together over the next 4 days, until they will both fit closer together than a young cresent moon !!

    Beautiful by eye. Stunning in binoculuars to see both ! A rare and amazing sight in a smal telescope. Saturn and its rings and Jupiter and its moons and bands - in one view.

    https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020

    Use your hands to measure angles in the sky-- http://www.fortworthastro.com/beginner1.html

    You can take a photo - even with a cell phone camera - Manual setting. ISO 800. Zoom to frame, best with some cool earth foreground. set at infinity. exposures - from 1/4 to 1/400 seconds - worth bracketing.

    https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1615/how-to-photograph-the-conjunction-of-saturn-and-jupiter/

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    1. P Satter

      https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201215.html
      Just to add one additional link that shows the progression of Jupiter and Saturn's relative positions on various dates through either side of the Great Conjunction.
      This site is invaluable to those of us who live near city light or with perpetual winter clouds.

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    2. Avatar photo
      Kmregan7

      If only our skies would cooperate and the clouds would part! I've been looking forward to this and then it got cloudy! Foiled!

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